Graviton Bioscience Corp. has announced a strategic investment from Sanofi SA. Under the agreement, Sanofi receives a right of first negotiation to license compounds across various indications, including immunological and metabolic syndrome indications.

When a cell is invaded by a virus, the cell triggers an innate immune response by activating retinoic acid-inducible gene I (RIG-I) like receptors (RLRs), among others, that are essential for controlling viral replication. Even though several ubiquitin ligases (E3) have been identified to positively or negatively regulate RLRs post-translationally, the E3 ligases directly involved in RLR transcription are still unknown. A screening including 375 ubiquitin E3 ligases identified E3 ubiquitin-protein ligase UBR5 as a positive regulator of RLR transcription.

Capricor Therapeutics Inc.'s Stealthx exosome-based multivalent vaccine for the prevention of SARS-CoV-2 has been selected to be part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Project Nextgen initiative aimed at developing COVID-19 vaccines offering broader and more durable protection.

IMU Biosciences Ltd. has raised £11.5 million (US$14.7 million) in a series A round to further develop and commercialize profiling technology that can identify from a blood sample which of more than 2,000 cell types are present in an individual’s immune system.

The COVID-19 virus may keep mutating, but new findings from Korean researchers at the Institute of Basic Science (IBS) offer a silver lining: human immunity is adapting, too.

Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria Biopharmaceutical Accelerator (CARB-X) is awarding Syntiron US$1.7 million to develop a maternal vaccine that targets Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae, two bacterial species that cause a large portion of neonatal sepsis infections.